The Slacker's Charter "
Such is the name given by a well-known headmaster to the notorious Circular 168 of the Ministry of Education, on which are based the regulations, in force since February 21st, which prevent any child in a school receiving grant from public sources from taking an external examination before the age of sixteen. A last attempt in the House of Commons on Tuesday to get the regulations suspended failed in face of the majority the Minister could call up at will, and a division was not in the end challenged. The case against the regulation is that it is an unwarrantable invasion of both scholastic and parental freedom for Whitehall to lay down a sweep- ing rule for every child except those in independent schools, and prevent the parent from deciding for his child, and the headmaster or headmistress from deciding for the pupil, whether the pupil shall take the examination at an earlier age than sixteen or not. There are tens of thousands of children who are more advanced at fifteen than the average child at sixteen, and the interval between the time at which a child is fully equipped to take an examination and the time at which Whitehall permits him to take it is all too likely to be spent without much profit. It is quite true that the Secondary Schools Examination Council recommended this restriction, but it does not at all follow that that body is right. The general weight of opinion at the universities and among public-school headmasters is decisively against the Ministry ; a recent article in the Spectator by the Headmaster of Tonbridge showed clearly why. But this Government likes mass-legislation imposing a flat uniformity, and the Ministry of Education sees no reason for considering the indi- vidual child rather than the common average.
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